Those things that happened in those years

Chapter 48 A Young Man's Thoughts

After criticizing Zhang Qiaoyun, the teacher turned the topic to the whole class, naturally giving them a dressing down as well: "Instead of studying properly, all you do is fool around, play pranks, or date! How will you support your partners in the future? You can barely feed yourselves, let alone date—and dating will only bring trouble to your parents, who might even have to sell the house and land to pay for your wedding! If you're so capable, study hard, get a degree, get a job, and earn your own money to get married. That's real ability… That's enough for today. If anyone doesn't pay attention in class or study diligently, I'll settle accounts with you when the final exam results come out—whoever doesn't do well will have to repeat the year!"

After class, Hong Liguo saw Fa Zi secretly tearing something in his desk and stuffing it into his schoolbag.

Out of curiosity, while Fa Zi went to the toilet, Hong Liguo secretly took the wad of stuff out of Fa Zi's schoolbag. After comparing and confirming it, it turned out to be a love letter!

Hong Liguo immediately became excited. While keeping an eye on Fa Zi's return, he quickly and carefully pieced together the letter to see who Fa Zi had written it to.

It took me ages to find the beginning, and the girl's name was Zhang Yulan. It turns out Fa Zi secretly likes Zhang Yulan and plans to confess before the final exams.

After reading it, Hong Liguo couldn't help but secretly smile. In order to prevent Fa Zi from finding out when he came back, Hong Liguo didn't dare to carefully read the contents of the love letter and quickly stuffed it back into his schoolbag before he came back.

Hong Liguo didn't understand why Fa Zi tore up the love letter he had written—perhaps he felt it wasn't well written and wanted to rewrite it; perhaps he didn't have the courage to confess to Zhang Yulan; or perhaps he was afraid that Zhang Yulan would do what Zhang Qiaoyun did and show the love letter to the whole class, making him lose face.

Later, Hong Liguo didn't know whether Fa Zi had confessed his feelings or not. The two maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far. On the surface, they didn't seem to have developed into a couple.

Regarding Zhang Qiaoyun's love letter incident, many people in the class were gossiping behind her back. Some said that the love letter wasn't written by a boy at all, but by Zhang Qiaoyun herself, to prove that she was charming, that someone liked her and pursued her, and that she was better than other girls. Others said that she might like a boy in the class and did this to provoke him, to make him feel insecure and hurry up and pursue her. Some objected, saying, "If she does this, who would dare to pursue her? Your logic is pure nonsense."

Hong Liguo disagreed with either explanation. After all, in that relatively conservative era, how much courage would it take to write and send a love letter? Such matters were generally not discussed publicly.

Zhang Qiaoyun probably acted that way out of anger—if that boy had actually left his name, perhaps she wouldn't have made such a scene.

As for the latter claim, it's even more impossible: Zhang Qiaoyun came from a well-off family and often visited relatives in the city, so she wasn't particularly shy about dating; given her outgoing and open personality, if she really liked someone, she would definitely pursue them actively and would never do something so foolish.

On the way home from school, Wang Yuxin deliberately sent Fa Zi and Jun Ge away: "You guys go ahead, I have a few questions to ask Hong Liguo."

Fa Zi understood and left first. Jun Ge gave Hong Liguo a sly smile: "You never say good things behind people's backs, but you never say good things behind their backs." Then he also left quickly.

Hongbo said playfully, "Let me hear what you're saying too, I promise I won't tell a single person."

Yanbin chimed in, "Yes, you don't tell one person, you tell everyone."

After saying that, the two of them laughed and left together.

Wang Yuxin's cheeks flushed slightly, looking incredibly cute. Seeing that the others had walked away and she was alone, she asked Hong Liguo directly with a serious expression, "Did you write Zhang Qiaoyun's love letter to her?"

Hong Liguo almost burst out laughing when he saw her serious expression. He said, "Why would you think that? Do you think I'm that bored?"

"You really didn't write it? Then why was she staring at you for so long?" Wang Yuxin asked, pressing for details.

Hong Liguo hadn't expected Wang Yuxin to be so observant, even noticing Zhang Qiaoyun's gaze falling on him. "It really wasn't me who wrote it. I'm not that bored. Besides, no matter how pretty Zhang Qiaoyun is, she's not my type—let alone me pursuing her, even if she pursued me, I wouldn't do it."

Hearing this, Wang Yuxin smiled with satisfaction. After a moment of silence, she asked again, "So, what kind of type do you like?"

Without thinking, Hong Liguo blurted out, "Your type."

Actually, he just said it casually, only wanting to tease Wang Yuxin, and didn't mean anything else.

But he clearly saw Wang Yuxin's face turn red instantly, and she left with a "You're annoying" before riding her bicycle away quickly.

As the final exams approach, incidents like Zhang Qiaoyun's occur more and more frequently, and similar cases have spread to other classes, causing the school and teachers a real headache.

有的同学因此把事情告诉老师，有的去找对方家长理论，有的乾脆找人把写情书的同学揍了一顿，也有两情相悦的，真就偷偷处成了对象。

Changwei, the eldest student in Hong Liguo's class, and Xiuer, a girl from another class, got together around this time. Their relationship not only lasted until graduation, but they also eventually got married and became life partners.

Such perseverance is truly rare among a group of teenagers who are still in the throes of youthful confusion.

In addition, Hong Liguo and his classmates had a classmate surnamed Liang whose name contained the character "Jing". Because he was also a fan of Jin Yong, he always called himself "Brother Jing".

Coincidentally, there was a girl in his class whose name contained the character "Rong," so he always compared himself to Guo Jing and the girl to Huang Rong behind her back, calling her "Brother Jing" and "Rong'er" in front of others.

The news gradually spread and reached the ears of the girl named "Rong'er." The girl was both ashamed and angry, and she turned around and told her older sister, who was also studying at the local middle school, about it.

The older sister was furious (I felt that the older sister at that time was really clueless about romance), and immediately grabbed her younger sister and stopped this "Brother Jing" on the way home from school, warning him not to talk nonsense at school anymore, or she would scratch his face until it was covered in flowers if he dared to talk nonsense again.

The "Brother Jing" was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he repeatedly swore that he would never dare to mention this matter again before he was considered to have passed the test.

Sure enough, from then on, he never dared to mention "Brother Jing" and "Rong'er" in front of his classmates again. Who would have thought that many years after graduation, this "Brother Jing" would actually marry that "Rong'er"? It is a story that people talk about with great interest.

During this final exam period when everyone was busy confessing their feelings, Hong Liguo also thought about it many times. He even wrote a love letter to Qiao Shuang, but in the end, he still didn't have the courage to take out the letter and tell Qiao Shuang that he liked her. Just like Fa Zi, he secretly tore up the letter.

Soon, the final exams ended, and Hong Liguo and his classmates went home to begin their long-awaited holiday.